According to the reports, Israeli researchers are conducting basic research into alleviating chronic pain.

It has been reported that researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel, led by Dr. Joel Hirsch, seek to learn how the body's calcium channels that enable pain signals to travel from the body to the brain work. They are also looking for why calcium channel blocker drugs now in use don't always succeed in dulling the pain lingering after accidents or due to prolonged illnesses like arthritis.

Hirsch says in a statement, "We have determined structures of calcium channel components which provide a framework for drug design and targeting. Our research into neuropathy, or finding treatments for chronic pain, may yield a new class of compounds that serve multiple purposes."

The study findings were presented at the Biophysical Society in San Francisco. (With Inputs from Agencies)